Three years ago, Taney County was gearing up to put in a Reverse 911 emergency notification system. Using the system, with the push of a button, everybody below Table Rock Dam could be warned of something catastrophic.

Short of going door to door to notify people about a dam break or the opening of Table Rock Dam’s floodgates, Taney County has no notification system except through media. The cost of the Reverse 911 system, along with too many cell phones that wouldn’t be part of it, put that plan on hold.

Missouri is the most dammed up state in the nation. Jim Alexander, the state's chief dam inspector, tries to hold back the serious risk for people living below hundreds of dams, if they failed.

In 2005, Missouri had two inspectors keeping an eye on its dams. It’s now doubled the manpower to four.

Missouri has about 6,000 dams but the four inspectors have to watch over only 600 because the state’s safety standards are so low. Despite a push by the governor, after the Taum Sauk reservoir disaster in December 2005, legislation to regulate the rest of the dams and add inspectors is apparently low priority.

Like Taum Sauk, Springfield’s Fellows Lake stores a billion gallons of water. Its spillway is breaking up because of age and heavy spring rains. A City Utilities of Springfield representative says it’s a situation that needs to be addressed.

CU is confident the spillway is fine until it’s fixed. If the dam ever failed, however, listen to who gets notified last: CU notifies the federal government. It notifies the state and the state notifies residents downstream.

Black Bass Dam in Eureka Springs, Ark., is 125 years old. It’s one of 1,000 unregulated dams in Arkansas. It leaks and the spillway can't handle heavy overflow.

Unlike Missouri, town council member Rae Hahn says Eureka Springs needs state loans for repairs, in a county that declined flood insurance a generation ago.

As with many things in Eureka Springs, this antique lake is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Most locals want to keep it and build walking trails around its little lake.

In Rockaway Beach, Mo., one property owner has sunk $70,000 into a dam problem he inherited. Alexander, the chief dam inspector, remembers it well. He calls it a disaster waiting to happen.

Once eroding fast and turning into a trash dump, Silver Creek Dam can now withstand a 500-year flood. Jerry Dickey says it’s time for the state to strengthen its standards, including adding some financial backup.

“They just don't want the liability, and I wasn't looking for somebody to sue.”

State Rep. John Kuessner, D-Eminence, calls the legislation that would upgrade Missouri’s dam safety standards an overreaction to the Taum Sauk disaster. Kuessner helped kill the bill last year. He says it would only add costs that private dam owners can’t pay and more regulations that will be hard to enforce.